A leading education expert has praised the Department for Education’s new Writing Framework for its ambition and clarity – but warns that it could create a generation of ‘writing robots’.
Penny Slater, partnership lead at HFL Education, says the framework is ‘thoughtful and well-researched’ and rightly focused on improving outcomes for pupils.
But she warns that without careful implementation it risks repeating the mistakes made in primary reading teaching a decade ago.
Penny said: “As someone who has spent years working alongside schools to develop effective literacy practice, I agree with a great many of the new framework’s recommendations.
“But I fear that in 10 years’ time we could be in the same predicament as we are with reading in primary.
“There, a narrow implementation of a previous framework has led to a situation in which KS1 is seen as when phonics is taught and KS2 is when comprehension is taught, leading to groups of children who associate good reading with being fast rather than understanding meaning.
“I think the new Writing Framework risks a similar fate if we are not careful.”
Penny said the framework was dominated by references to ‘sentence/s’ while ‘reader’, ‘audience’, ‘effect’ and ‘purpose’ were far less visible.
“It’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to see subject leaders coming to the conclusion that accurate sentence construction – for the sake of accuracy alone – is the goal.
“Fast forward 10 years and I think there is a very real danger that we will we have a new challenge to address – ‘writing robots’ who can create sentences in a ‘paint by numbers’ manner but with no deep connection to purpose or audience or even an awareness of why we write.”
Penny called for nuance in the way the framework is interpreted and cautioned against too narrow an application.
“With thoughtful implementation, the Writing Framework can help us raise standards and close gaps. But we must learn from the past.
“That’s why it’s so important to keep the reader at the heart of the writing process, because every sentence must be part of a larger whole – an idea, a story or a message worth sharing.
“Because let’s not forget that while learning their scales is essential to any budding musician, in the end it’s the music that moves us.”
HFL Education has this year launched an innovative Early Years writing programme called ESSENTIALWRITING, to give children aged 3-5 the best possible start to learning to write.
The new programme is part of a sequenced curriculum which continues with the highly-successful ESSENTIALWRITING programme for years 1-6.
To find out more visit https://www.hfleducation.org/early-years/essentialwriting-early-years and https://www.hfleducation.org/school-improvement/primary/english/essential-writing
